Stellenbosch University - South Africa
July 2007: Enjoying Life!
Time is flying! I was so surprised when my Co-op advisor, Geoff, told me it was already time for the Co-op site visit (which, to his disappointment, had to be conducted by telephone!). It’s odd to think that I’ll be back on Canadian soil in less than a month now – it feels like I just got settled in! I only have four weeks left so I must use them wisely. (I think I should plan really boring things for the next month so time doesn’t slip by so quickly! ha ha)
In my June Co-op journal I mentioned that I was working on some Excel documents relating to the fibre balancing project. I have continued working on these “living documents” this month: I have been checking the data, verifying that the equations are correct, ensuring the referencing is correct and creating complex “if statement” formulas to analyze the data in new ways. I have finished one spreadsheet, which will act as a template, and am now going to update another 8 spreadsheets with the same formulas (most of the “thinking” is done – I just need to copy the same formulas to the new spreadsheets). When I’m done updating all of these spreadsheets I’ll summarize the results in one single, easy-to-use spreadsheet. Even after regularly using Excel in school, I am still learning new tricks and realizing more and more what a powerful program it is. My advice to any 2nd or 3rd year students: pay attention and work hard in FRST 232 (Computer Applications in Forestry) and FRST 318 (Forest and Conservation Economics) and all other excel-oriented classes because you will end up using these Excel skills again and again in academia and in the workplace.
Aside from the fibre balancing spreadsheets I have been devoting much of my time to the time study project that I also mentioned in my last Co-op journal entry. The study is centred on a skidder which has been fitted with GPS equipment and an impact sensor (which tells us when the skidder goes over a bump, how big the impact is and which tire went over the bump). We want to look at how the terrain (as indicated by the impacts) affects skid patterns which, in turn, affects productivity of the extraction process. I have organized a few outings into the field to collect data. When out in the field, two of us conduct a time study on the skidder (meaning we use a stopwatch to time the “elements” of the skid cycle), take notes on the skidding and extraction method, record how many trees are brought to the landing per skid cycle and occasionally download information from the skidder’s GPS and impact sensor. I have now begun entering the time study data into Excel and have started processing the GPS and impact data into a special program called “Map Maker”, which I will soon upload into the ArcView GIS program for further analysis. We will look at the speed of the skidder, the distance covered by the skidder, the impacts experienced by the skidder and the output (#trees/SC). We will be assessing the productivity of the current system and will look to improve on any inefficient elements in the system.
I have been enjoying this balance between office and field work – there is just the right amount of both. Amazingly most of our field days have been sunny and warm (about 20° Celsius); this is lucky considering that it’s winter and the Western Cape is a winter rainfall zone. I suppose I can’t really complain about having 3 winters in a row when “winter” involves 20° temperatures! When the weather is favourable, it also allows me to explore the surrounding areas: on one sunny day some friends and I visited Cape Town. It was great! We explored the castle (the oldest European building in SA), went to “summit hill” (which had great views of the city and the bay), saw the Houses of Parliament and to Victoria Waterfront (which has beautiful views of Table Mountain).
I also got a chance to stay on a wine farm for a weekend in a small town called Bot River with some friends. We watched the rugby match (South Africa VS. New Zealand – they take their rugby quite seriously here!), had a ‘Braai’ (the South African word for BBQ), went for a wine-tasting, I made pumpkin pie (South Africans have never heard of it before) and we also went on a great hike.
I know next month will be busy because I’m going to try to fit everything into these last few weeks: I will try to go for more wine-tastings, more hikes, explore the surrounding towns and wrap up my projects at the office. I’m looking forward to it and I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!
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